Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 - NSW ...

7.5.3 Firearms, weapons and high level drug supply in Cabramatta
In the second reading speech about the Drug Premises Act, links between professional drug dealers and the use of prohibited weapons
and firearms were raised. 630
Some type of weapon, or ammunition, was found on six of the 37 identified drug premises in Cabramatta. A 0.22 calibre rifle was found
during an incident in which Cabramatta police seized a large quantity of heroin, the largest drug seizure in any single use of the Act in
Cabramatta. 631 On a further five drug premises, the following items were found:
• a meat cleaver and a homemade knife-style weapon
• nine rounds of ammunition
• a samurai sword was located under a bed
• a knife and
• a box of ammunition with 97 live rounds in it. 632
Detectives we spoke to at Cabramatta believed that the relative absence of firearms on drug premises reflected a change in the nature of
criminal activity in the area. They compared the suburb to what it was like in the 1990s, when there had been a series of well-publicised
gang-related shootings in the area:
Cabramatta in the 90s, and when it was running red hot, a lot of those active, violent people were arrested and charged, and the
ones that weren’t arrested and charged … they’ve subsequently gone. 633
Similarly, another detective said:
The dynamics of the area have changed too, you haven’t got that so-called gang element, it’s not what it used to be. It’s more
just individuals doing the best for themselves, its not this organised approach, and you haven’t got that … being armed, it’s not as
available as it used to be. 634
However, one officer put forward an alternative view. He considered that offenders who use firearms, and deal in large quantities of drugs
in Cabramatta, have gotten a lot smarter and were now less likely to store prohibited drugs or firearms on the premises they are operating:
I think they are getting a lot smarter, in terms of firearms and larger quantities of drugs, they don’t hold them on the premises they’re
operating, they’ve probably got another safe house that [other people] don’t know about, telephone intercepts suggest that is the
case. 635
The case study below documents the incident in which a firearm and largest quantity of drugs was seized when police used the Act in
Cabramatta.
Case study 22.
High level drug supply in Cabramatta
Early one afternoon, police went to a house to make follow up inquiries in relation to a shooting incident. Several days before,
shots had been fired into the house, which was inhabited by a woman and her three children.
Police pressed the intercom outside the front gate and, while waiting for the electronic gate over the driveway to open, saw a
man throw a bag over the fence into the neighbour’s backyard. They called out to him, but he continued to walk towards the
rear of the premises. At the same time, the female occupant of the house came out of her front door.
Police went into the neighbour’s yard and recovered the bag. They found that it contained items wrapped in plastic and tape,
several containers filled with white powder that was later found to be 1 kilogram of heroin, and a 0.22 calibre rifle. There was
also a black and red tackle box with a sealed package inside it. Police then applied for, and were granted, a search warrant. 636
630 The Hon. R. Debus, NSWPD, 30 May 2001, p. 13997.
631 COPS event narrative, Cabramatta LAC, Drug Premises Incident 36.
632 COPS event narratives, Cabramatta LAC.
633 Focus group, Cabramatta police, 2 July 2003.
634 Ibid.
635 Ibid.
636 The type of search warrant applied for is not noted.
NSW Ombudsman
Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 119